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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Crazy Rich Asians gets 3.5 Stars {adult fiction, contemporary lit}

Singapore is the world's richest city. They have the most billionaires and apparently some Crazy Rich Asians according to Kevin Kwan. This book not only portrayed how ridiculously rich some people are, but the people in the book are a little ridiculous with how they treat, judge, and view people. There are a few meanings for the title of this book. At the beginning of Crazy Rich Asiansthere is some overt racism. Throughout the book the reader learns how the rich and elite in Asia feel about people from other countries. The book stated that they think those from Taiwan are gold diggers, and if your lineage isn't always elite and ideal you aren't considered worthy of their time. I learned that there really are people who spend exorbitant amounts of money on anything and everything. Who knew you could consistenly spend a half a million dollars on one dress. *wow* This was a different Asian Lit book from the last one I read and reviewed, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but I still learned a little something from it. In this mostly predictable Cinderella like story the sweet, smart, and kind girl, we'll call her Rachel, is oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend, who we'll call Nicholas, comes from an extremely wealthy family. So wealthy that every girl in Singapore wants to marry him. Rachel doesn't know this about Nicholas, but when she starts to figure it out it doesn't change her feelings for him. He loves that she doesn't love him for the money. However, his family investigates her family line and find some less than desirable characters. They clearly don't find Rachel acceptable for their son and do their best to ruin them. I won't tell you the ending, but you most likely have a good idea of where it ends up. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan gets 3.5 out of 5 stars in my book review. The story is a little slow to get moving and the characters elite and snobby mannerisms is kind of annoying. However, I'm glad I didn't give up on this book b/c it was an overall fun, light, and I even learned a touch about that part of the world. Even the ending was fun plus there was a smidge of surprise. So, Crazy Rich Asians is not an amazing piece of literature, but the story was fun enough. It's a decent audiobook as well, and that might help get you through the slow annoying beginning. Just for fair warning, there is quite bit of language, and I wouldn't consider this a clean read. Everything is mostly in context, but there's not much of high value in this book. I personally think of this book more as a poolside book or a beach read, but there is movie adaption currently being filmed. I have no idea of expected release date. Anyone know? To be fair to the book, it has interested me enough to read the next book in the series, China Rich Girlfriend. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts of the book.